Wary Monica denies being asked to lie

Monica Lewinsky's video testimony will be watched by United States senators today and they will hear her stick by her insistence that she was not offered a job in return for silence about her relationship with President Clinton.

She also says that she was not asked to lie about the affair.

Transcripts released yesterday of the former White House intern's questioning by Republican prosecutors show her battle-hardened, cautious and deliberate after more than a year of public scrutiny.

She said she had been 'a pest', asking help from Vernon Jordan, the president's friend, in finding a job. The prosecution said that a job was found for her in New York as payment for her discretion.

She confirmed that the president telephoned her in December 1997 to tell her she might become a witness in Paula Jones' sexual harassment case, and that if she signed an affidavit she might not need to give evidence. But Ms Lewinsky insisted that there was no discussion of what might be in the affidavit. She said: 'I don't think I necessarily thought at that point it would have to be false.'

When asked whether Mr Clinton lied when he denied touching her in a sexual manner during their relationship, she replied: 'I really don't feel comfortable characterising whether what he said was truthful or not.'

Ms Lewinsky said she now had mixed feelings about the president, but she objected when a prosecutor, Ed Bryant, referred to 'a so-called salacious occasion' at the start of the affair. She said: 'Can you call it something else? I mean, this is my relationship."

Mr Bryant asked: 'What would you like to call it?'

Ms Lewinsky replied: 'It was my first encounter with the president, so I don't really see it as my first salacious - that's not what this was.'

Video testimony by Mr Jordan and the presidential aide Sydney Blumenthal is also expected to be shown to the Senate today, as the impeachment trial approaches what is expected to be its last week.

Ms Lewinsky's video testimony is due to be released to the public after the trial, despite objections of White House lawyers, who said it would be manipulated by political enemies.